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For over a year, the Bronx has been plagued by sudden disappearances that no one can explain. Sixteen-year-old Raquel does her best to ignore it. After all, the police only look for the white kids. But when her crush Charlize’s cousin goes missing, Raquel starts to pay attention—especially when her own mom comes down with a mysterious illness that seems linked to the disappearances.
Raquel and Charlize team up to investigate, but they soon discover that everything is tied to a terrifying urban legend called the Echo Game. The game is rumored to trap people in a sinister world underneath the city, and the rules are based on a particularly dark chapter in New York’s past. And if the friends want to save their home and everyone they love, they will have to play the game and destroy the evil at its heart—or die trying.

I saw this book around a couple of months ago and immediately pre-ordered it. I loved the concept of this book so much, which slightly reminded me of An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, one of my favourite books. The idea of a city-wide game sounds like such a unique idea and I was super excited to find out more about the concept.

I listened to the audiobook for this one, which I must say I felt quite hard to get into. It might be more me, or the book itself, rather than the audiobook, but I often felt like I wasn’t concentrating enough on the story.

It was in ourselves, and no matter what happened,

There was definitely a horror element to this one which intrigued me, and I liked the atmosphere. This felt like a love letter to the Bronx, which I enjoyed, and I could picture the settings well. But unfortunately, I just didn’t connect to the story as much as I hoped to at all.

I liked the characters enough, but definitely didn’t feel an emotional connection to them, which I realised most when it didn’t get to me when big things happened.

that would always be part of our legacy.

Overall, this book just didn’t quite match up to expectations. I did enjoy it, but the concept was more enthralling for me than the book itself. I would read more from Tirado in the future, though!

★★★
3 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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